Utility poles are commonly used to carry electrical power lines, including distribution lines and subtransmission lines. In urban areas, a variety of utility poles may be used for supporting telephone lines, fibre optic cables, and even traffic lights, street illumination and video cameras. It often happens that, new poles are placed next to existing ones to support a new utility, whenever a utility is installed in a neighbourhood. Chaotic situations may arise wherein different kinds of cables cross over and under each other and a variety of poles exist next to each other.
This kind of situation may have a number of disadvantages: firstly, maintenance work on any of the utilities involved may be complicated, and it may be difficult to install any new utility or other appliance on existing poles or new poles. Secondly, when electrical power lines are placed in the vicinity of other utility cables, electromagnetic interference may occur. Thirdly, the chaos of cables may lead to an unpleasant and chaotic street view.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, it is known to use underground power and telephone lines instead of overhead lines. However, depending on the circumstances, an enormous investment may be necessary to replace a significant part of the overhead systems with underground systems. Such an investment may not be viable in all situations, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries.
The present invention is aimed at avoiding or at least partially reducing one or more of the before-mentioned disadvantages related to prior art systems. Further advantages will become apparent from the description that follows.